From the desk of the person who never posts, and since the name of the blog is "Along For the Ride", and just because I wanted to, here is a post.
For those of you who don't know, I ride the bus to work. For many in other areas of the country, or maybe just Salt Lake City, this would be a scary event punctuated by seedy characters and smelly, mumbling psychopaths. But then again this is Utah valley and everyone on this particular bus is going to BYU (careful...). This means that no one talks to anyone else and everyone looks down. Making eye contact is strictly forbidden.
For the past while (a very well defined amount of time) there has been a man who gets on the bus after I do. This is very important, he gets on after many people are already on the bus. He then promptly pulls out a counting device. Just like this one:
And he starts counting. As soon as someone pays the fare, he counts them. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to who he is counting. Some people have BYU bus passes, some pay with cash, some have monthly bus passes. And remember all the people already on the bus who are now not accounted for. He has no official badge or other indicator as to why he is counting humans. Maybe it was a Christmas present and counting fence posts got too boring. Here is a pic of the human counter that I stealthily took. You can see the counting device in his right hand.
Why is he counting humans? Of course I assume he's restricted to counting humans as no other life-form has tried to board the bus. By the way, don't make eye contact with this guy. He has a strange piercing gaze. Oh, and 1985 called. They want their jacket back.
Begin wild speculation...now.
I didn't know that your cell phone could take such clear pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you think this is supposed to convince me to take you to work everyday so you can sleep in longer, forget it. Riding the bus builds character, or at least exposes you to some interesting ones.
CREEPER
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ReplyDeleteThe best thing about riding a bus is the experience. I once got on a bus in Mexico only to find the guy next to me had cut off the top of a soda bottle and poured glue into it. He tied a string to it and hung it around his neck to make is easier to get himself high. When he offered me some, I gave him a pass-along card.
ReplyDeleteThat, sir, is I why I love the bus.
Lem, your husband is cracking me up. And your comment didn't help stop the laughter. Love the post. Thanks for making me smile today!
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ReplyDeleteWay too funny. Aren't people interesting.I often wonder how many people look at me and think what's up with her, plenty i'm sure. The ones that really get me are those people that wander endlessly up and down the beach with those metal detectors. What in the heck are they looking for? People.....
ReplyDeletePerhaps he has a blog that requires numbers of people who get on the bus AFTER he does...maybe the counter is an antidepressive action...or an anti-claustrophobic assist... or he likes clicking it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps his daughter gave it to him and loves to see numbers on it when he comes home at night.
Jackson might be in on this.
Maybe he is doing a study for his graduate work in sociology or psychology, or civil engineering, that has something to do with numbers of people riding the bus?
ReplyDeleteI seriously think you should ask him. You can't just leave us all hanging, you are now obligated to strike up a conversation and find out!
Maybe he is doing an experiment to see how long before someone will ask him, and when you do you will free him from his need to count humans. :)